LED's are something I don't stock up on because they price is always going down, or they are getting better and better. I had some of those that first came out. No comparison with the new ones. At first they were only lit up enough so you could tell they were lights; they didn't illuminate anything.
i agree, Larry! i just put up 4 LED fixtures in my basement, 4 upstairs and one outside. they are amazing!
Stlshrk I also bought a case of florescent tubes some years back. But......I also just got a 4' LED shop light in the "daylight" version. Man, that thing is amazing! As far as switching brands, that's just fine. Go ahead! But if you talk about switching teams....well then...…
Learn me please. I have existing fluorescent fixtures. Can the led tubes be simply installed, or does the fixture need to be replaced to use the led tubes?
Should be able to do both rather easily. LED bulbs should fit in without modifications... but if the fixtures are old. It might be worth the time pulling them out and just install new LED fixtures....
There is not an easy answer to just buying led tubes to use in your fluorescent fixture. Something to do with the ballast I think. Or rewiring the fixture. I got the led fixture and it said on the box "no bulbs to buy". What? That's right! Just a couple strips of the LEDs and man, do they put out the light (daylight version)! I bought the 4' version shop light at wally world for $22. I noticed years ago that lighting was never bright enough for these tired old eyes.
Some LED tubes have their own build in power supply and do not require anything but a direct AC connect. Some LED tubes are built to work with the existing ballast in a fluorescent fixture. Usually it also has to be a newer electronic ballast. I prefer a fixture with replaceable tubes so will rewire an old fluorescent fixture for direct connect LED tubes. It will be interesting with some of these non-replaceable part fixtures what ages and goes bad first - the plastic housing or the LED circuitry. LOL. Some of these new fixtures that can be daisy-chained are convenient.
With fluorescent, if it's not bulbs going bad, it's ballasts. I converted my florescent kitchen lights to ballast-less direct wire LED's a couple of years ago. Simple installation with bypassing the ballast and connecting the hot wire to one end of the existing fixture and the neutral to the other. Nice and bright and no on lag.
And good luck finding an exact replacement ballast sometimes. I've had to rewire a fixture because the ballast had to be wired different. I still have some unused ballasts on the shelf because I had a habit of buying two when I needed one. The spare for next time saving a trip to the store and agonizing over what they had this week to pick from.
